#keepmoving Calendar of Tales, Tweets, and Gaiman

Calendar Tales: 

An experiment in social media creativity. 

Hey literary lovers. Sara here bringing you a very impromptu post about a fun twitter event I was lucky enough to participate in, and be inspired by yesterday.  Hopefully for the more tech. savvy readers out there, you are already hip to the ways of hastags and tweets, so this will all make sense to you. If not, it's high time you crawl our from under your wifi-free rock and join in the fun!

  Twitter, more than any other social networking site has the potential to connect the greatest number of people in the most basic and primal level possible. This was made clear by the exciting and truely awe inspiring events of the #keepmoving project that was hosted by none other than Neil Gaiman himself on Monday.  For more information about the motivation behind his twitter-spree, please check out Neil's blog where he explains in further detail.  For those who missed out however, all you really need to know is that Mr. Gaiman was asking a series of questions to the twitterverse through out the day, centered around the days of the month.   Some examples include: 

Why is January so dangerous?

Where would you spend a perfect June?

Those of us who participated throughout the day responded with our most clever or heartfelt answers, just happy enough to have found a way to pass a slow winter monday.  What I think myself, as well as others did not expect was the truly heartwarming, earth shattering, and soul exposing connection that was made by such a small symbol: #.   

As the answers flooded in, strangers from around the world were able to lay down their burdens, pick up the loads of others, and find inspiration in the most unlikely of places, culminating in an event that I can only hope is a sign of things to come.  

Here are just a few of the highlights:

#Maytale: What is the weirdest gift you've ever been given in May?

@wawoodworth The gift of life. It came w/ no instruction manual. I just rely on people who have played the game longer.

‏@scalzi A human kidney. At lunchtime. Not FOR lunch, to be clear. 

@katsaysbarkA birthday card from my father, who was in prison at the time. My birthday is in October

#Dectale: Who would you like to see again in December?

@Steve_Walls #dectale quite possibly the most beautiful thing to happen on Twitter

@Stephen_GM My father, to have the conversation that I couldn't bear to have with him before he died

@ashleyzeldaa I'd like to see myself again. By the end of the year, I've usually lost who I was somewhere along the way.@dch__ Just take a few minutes and read #dectale hashtag. This is what's important in life. Do it now.

#Augtale: If August could speak, what would she say?

@amarthis August would choose not to speak. she'd just whisper wordlessly and give you occasional heated glares.

@invisibeth1321 WTF, why is there nothing interesting going on during me? I'm like the ugly step-sister of months.

@aliasNC13 August would speak of Hungry Ghosts, good luck & bad: of people who understand that love continues after we are gone.

Those are just a few of my personal favorites. I'd love to hear some of your own.

If you have the time, I highly suggest you run through the backlogs of the entire #keepmoving project. The genuine emotion that can be felt in so few typed characters is astounding, and will set your creative heart on fire. However, if you are an insomniac like me, be warned: you will not be getting much sleep tonight.

"@batcave82:last night was exciting, for one moment i felt connected with the whole planet. It's a story told from a million mouths."